Jim Schwartz breaks silence on Browns exit: 'I didn't feel like I could do my job'

Jim Schwartz feels he may have gotten the short end of the stick.

The former Browns defensive coordinator was one of the league's better signal callers during his three-year stint in Cleveland, helping nurture one of the NFL's best defensives despite the team's overall woes.

His successes made him a candidate to be the team's next head coach after Cleveland parted ways with Kevin Stefanski after the 2025 season, but the Browns hired Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken instead. That led to a reportedly acrimonious split between Schwartz and the organization.

In an interview on the "Ryan Ripken Show," Schwartz broke his silence on his departure, saying he wasn't "on board" with the idea of staying on as DC after not winning the head-coaching gig.

"They can't expect me to stay on board for that," Schwartz said of potentially staying as Browns DC after the hiring of Monken. "Anybody that's in any business, you get passed over for a promotion, when you've done a really, really good job in your job, and you think you were in line for that promotion, then it's time to go."

The veteran DC pointed out that the defense under his watch produced some of the most productive seasons for its best players, including the recently traded Myles Garrett, who set the single-season sack record in 2025.

Schwartz added that he felt couldn't lead players after not getting the head coaching gig.

"I didn't feel like I could do my job after being passed over for the head coaching job, it sort of put me in a tough position," he added. "'Hey, we want you to listen to this guy, but we didn't want to make him the head coach.'"

Schwartz's 2025 season ended on a positive, with the team's -0.11 defensive EPA/play ranking fifth in the league, two seasons after the team finished first with a -0.19 mark, per SumerSports.

His resignation means that he'll have to sit out the 2026 season before dipping his toe back into the coaching ranks, whether as a head coach or coordinator in 2027.

"The decision they made, that's their decision, but to expect me to stay and to be on board for that, that's just a tough situation," he said. "And it wouldn't have been good for me, and it wouldn't have been good for Todd. So it was best for him to get his own guy in there and to move forward with him, as opposed to just having an arranged marriage, and having me there and maybe having some players more loyal to me than to him, it can just be a bad situation."

Cleveland finished with a 5-12 record in 2025, good for a last-place finish in the AFC North. Their record was more indicative of a poor offense highlighted by a quarterback shuffle that included veteran passer Joe Flacco and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.